Pajiba

I remain skeptical about Jr. Doctor.

I'm with my other favorite physician on the want for a Doctor Who Wii game. I think, however, a Torchwood Wii game would not be for the kiddies....I would very much like to get my hand on Captain Jack's controller.

*see what I did there?

I will probably buy the Doctor Who Wii game. I just wish you could choose from all the previous Doctors. That would be the business.

Renovating the TARDIS?!

I'm torn between my trust in Moffat and my dislike of change...

Except that consistently what the companions have brought to the table is exactly the sort of grounding that family and connections provide.

I disagree. To me, this is the best news I've read yet. Throwing away the family connection perhaps means that the show won't be quite so Earthbound, which is the only characteristic of the last four seasons that has bothered me. Let's see more alien planets and imagination. It's a big universe out there, and constantly visiting the companion's mother in London just doesn't fly.

They’ve redesigned the interior of the TARDIS to be bigger and fancier.

Not unprecedented. Back in the old days we did get peeks at the rest of the interior of the TARDIS from time to time.

As for River Song, I'll be happy to see Alex Kingston back, but I do wonder how they're going to explain that dialogue seemed to indicate it was Tennant's Doctor that she knew. (Or am I mistaken about that?)

I remember miles of corridors in the TARDIS in the old days. I remember Tom Baker having a old stone cloister in it somewhere.

From "The 3 Doctors":

Patrick Troughton to Jon Pertwee: "You've redecorated the TARDIS. I don't like it."

>i>Renovating the TARDIS?!

So? Happens a lot.

Yeah, he's still wearing Ten's suit. Come ooooon, Paddy.

I liked the variation on that running gag with Tennant in "Time Crash":
Fifth: What have you done to my TARDIS? You've changed the desktop theme, haven't you? What's this one? Coral? It's worse than the leopard skin.

There was also one very subtle joke in that one that had me howling:
Tenth: And the Master. Oh! He just showed up again, same as ever.
Fifth: Oh no, really? Does he still have that rubbish beard?
Tenth: No, no beard this time. Well, a wife.

I don't care too much about the fact that the new companion doesn't have a family that we'll meet periodically. The Old Series had that for just about every companion, so it'll be just like old times. I was also sick of meeting everyone's bloody family. Even Adam, that two-episode companion back in Season 1* (with Eccleston) had us meet his damn mother. Mickey had his grandma, which was sweet. I know there's the whole "a companion with a family grounds him in the importance of trusting others" thing, but that was with RTD, and with Tennant. Smith might not be the "angry god" type who needs that type of reassurance. At least I hope he isn't. Moffatt did have Tennant do that stupid thing where he clicked his fingers and the TARDIS door opened, as if he were some kind of magician/near-God. So annoying.

*Oh yeah, and I am so peeved off at that "We'll call Season 5 Season 1 now. It's a whole new era!" thing. The Old Series went for 26 seasons, changing producers and doctors quite often (though the 80's remained quite stable producer-wise). It's daunting, but at least they'll know what year you're talking about when you say Season this or that. Don't mislead and inevitably confuse fans with this garbage. It's Season 5. I will fucking call it Season 5 because I remember Season 1.** If I say "Season 1" to my friends when I'm talking about Matt Smith's upcoming series, they'll be confused because THEY TOO HAVE SEEN ECCLESTON'S RUN AS THE DOCTOR. Stupid BBC.

**Like how I say "Twenty ten" and not "two-thousand ten." Fuck that "2000 is so awesome!" noise. We're a whole decade in now. Get with it.

ARGH.

(All this quotation stuff reminds me that I need to increase my vocabulary also. Sigh.)

Darth +1, to me that read like a huge YES! For all the great things he did in raising DW from the dead, the constant running back to old Blighty was exactly what got so tedious about the RTD era.

The risk they run in making it less Earthbound is that it will become a little more science fiction, a little less popular fiction. In other words, great for me but maybe not so great for the wider audience.

I just don't know about the new Doctor. Change is good, but I hope it is good change. When Tennant started as the Tenth Doctor, I full-on despised him for three episodes...but then I got used to him. I won't lie, the fact that he's so damn good-looking helped him grow on me more quickly than if it had been up to his portrayal alone. I'm kind of hoping the same thing will happen with Matt Smith. He's no Tennant, certainly not as hot, but maybe he'll grow on me. We'll see.

I'm glad the assistnant is an orphan. All the families have been such whiners. I like the loose shirt & tie look too.

Steven Moffat had a good argument for calling it "series one" not "series five" (basically that the 'new' Doctor Who shouldn't be artificially distinguished from the 'old' DW):

“It’s Series Thirty-One of Doctor Who, and it’s Series One of Matt Smith’s Doctor, Those are both real numbers. I submit that ‘Series Five of Doctor Who’ means absolutely nothing unless you really believe that Matt Smith is the third Doctor. Everyone knows he’s the Eleventh Doctor so that means it’s definitely not ‘Series Five’. Whichever number you choose, ‘Series Five’ is the one that’s flawed.”

“‘Series One’ is an exciting sentence. ‘Series Thirty-One’ is an awe-inspiring sentence. ‘Series Five’ is a boring sentence - and also a complete lie”

Oh, and, taking another look at Moffat's argument: Please. By your logic, Season 2 was Season 1 because it was Tennant's first year as Doctor. You write great episodes, but that's just ridiculous, Mr. Moffat. Also, nobody thinks Matt Smith is the "third doctor" from saying it's gonna be Series 5 anymore than they think Eccleston was the first. Like I said in my last post: different production. That goes beyond the show's mythology. Jeez.

Mr Tusks: having just watched "The End of Time", I can tell you conclusively that it is the same tie.

There is no reboot. It's the thirty-first series of Doctor Who, the thirty-first in a larger, cohesive story,.... and the first with the current production team.

It's also the, uh, sixth set of production blocks made in Wales.

There is no rational reason to call it "series five" except to appease the stupid. No surprise that marketing departments might do this, but why would anyone else?

Only a stupid person would call it "series five", and I'm not going to, because I *remember* series five. Series five started off excellently. With _Tomb of the Cybermen_.